Cooperating with Nan Cao, our lab published an article, which entitled “Co-effects of m6A and chromatin accessibility dynamics in the regulation of cardiomyocyte differentiation”, in Epigenetics & Chromatin on August 11th. Xue-Hong Liu is the co-first author. Ze-Hui Ren, Hong-Xuan Chen and Ying Zhang also made great contribution to this work. Congratulations to them!

Generating cardiomyocytes (CM) using human pluripotent stem cells (hPSC) is a guarantee for cell therapy in treating severe cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, understanding the mechanism of differentiation and improving the efficiency of differentiation are of great importance in this field. Our research has revealed the significant role of m6A RNA modification in cardiomyocyte differentiation, further advancing cardiac research. By utilizing advanced m6A detection methods, we have overcome previous detection limitations, revealing the dynamic m6A changes in key genes and the intricate orchestration of specific m6A writers and erasers on RNA translation during the differentiation process. Moreover, our study has discovered that the harmonious interaction between m6A modification and chromatin accessibility is a critical factor influencing early cardiomyocyte differentiation. These findings not only deepen our understanding of cardiac development but also pave the way for future therapeutic interventions, bringing hope for improved treatments in the field of cardiac health.

By Xue-Hong Liu